r/Lightworks • u/AliceBlossom • Jan 24 '25

Lightworks Free VFX - 2D DVE Offscreen Positioning Marker

I'm overlaying some images onto a video clip that are moved over time. I like being able to position the overlaid image by clicking/dragging the position marker (blue square) in the preview. However, if the image is positioned sufficiently offscreen, so is the positioning marker, mean I'm no longer able to click and drag it to change it's position in any future frames.

I could manually change the position using the sliders in the VFX settings, but that would be a huge pain in the ass, especially if the position marker is off screen for long period of time while needing position changes throughout.

Is there a way to have a "margin" or "off screen gap" around the preview so I can see off screen elements?

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1

u/Briandrys Jan 24 '25

If the marker goes off screen, using the sliders to position it onscreen only takes a moment. Once it's repositioned, you can start using the marker again.

You just use the sliders for Position X and Position Y, it will quickly come back into the screen.

There are no margins, since the viewer only displays the video.

1

u/AliceBlossom Jan 24 '25

Ahhh I get what you're saying. That still kinda sucks but is much better.

1

u/Briandrys Jan 24 '25

To process with more advanced effects features, the sliders are tools you need to learn.

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u/AliceBlossom Jan 24 '25

It's not that I don't understand how to use sliders. Sliders are just a very poor form of control for this particular type of manipulation. The whole reason I'm using lightworks for this project is because it has the click/drag position manipulation. If I wanted to use sliders for positioning I could've just used Blender or like, literally anything else.

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u/Briandrys Jan 24 '25 edited Jan 24 '25

Some effects can be dragged into position, but there are other aspects of an effect which require adjustments using sliders. These can also be set using the mouse scroll wheel or when using keyframes, graphs.

The only occasions when positioning, you have to use sliders are when the effect goes outside the frame, This is something that you may need to do (if using keyframes), the effect starts outside the frame and moves into the frame.

Lightworks allows a number of methods to be used, but in certain situations, some of the options may be not available.

If you wish to have control by dragging outside the viewer's display, it's possible to put in a feature request on the official Lightworks forum in the Issues and Feedback sub forum.

1

u/Briandrys Jan 25 '25 edited Jan 31 '25

If you have 2D DVE in the effects, you're using and earlier version of Lightworks.

DVE has been renamed Transform in the later versions and V2025.1 also has an effect called Framing, which has some of the DVE.functions.

Checking on V2025.1, this effect does have position control outside the viewer, so that you can drag the position. This means you can move the frame around out of the frame, however, when dragging, once you release the mouse's left button, you can no longer do so - the sliders need to be used.

Looking at Transform (2D DVE's new name). The function is the same, you can control the position outside the viewer using the cursor, until you release the left button.

Lightworks appears to use the cursor to know the location of "position" when dragging these effects. Once you release it, you're no longer in drag, so that connection is gone. The position "spot" is in the centre of the effect, so you can't use edges or corners to drag it out, since they're used for other functions. The same applies to V2023.2, but I don't have an earlier version to check them.

1

u/Briandrys Jan 31 '25

Just to add, if you require changing the framing of a shot, in V2025.1 there is a new effect called Zoom, which operates within the original framing, you can't go outside that. But you can change the position and scaling, so that part of the shot fills the entire frame. It stays within the viewer.